In honor of lifetime runner, mother, and friend Jeanne Thompson Holmes

Jeanne passed on May 9th, hours before Mother's Day, in the presence of both her daughters in Durham, North Carolia. This followed eight months of battling Alzheimer's Disease; Jeanne had a rare inherited genetic form which advanced rapidly from first s

Jeanne passed on May 9th, hours before Mother's Day, in the presence of both her daughters in Durham, North Carolia. This followed eight months of battling Alzheimer's Disease; Jeanne had a rare inherited genetic form which advanced rapidly from first symptomatic attention and diagnosis In October to death less than 8 months later. She had become nonverbal by the 6th month and was in hospice for just under 4 weeks at the end. However, Jeanne was able to complete her bucket list with a half-marathon finish in Jamaica in early December (her 100th country, and about her 280th half-marathon), a cruise with her family at New Years (her 72nd birthday), and farewell visits to her daughter's family and granddaughters in Texas (January) and Washington DC (February). She succumbed in a hospice memory care center in her hometown of the last 20 years, Durham NC.  While Jeanne's battle with Alzheimer's has been many years shorter than for normal cases, roughly one-fifteenth the normal length of time for each of its stages, the combination of her family, her providers, and the science of her treatment all improved the quality of her life and the management of her crises, and with significant thanks to the ongoing effort of the USA national Alzheimer's Association.  (Three different times, her husband was overwhelmed by immediate crises with her behaviors and was saved by calling their national 24/7 hotline where a highly qualified expert guided him on how to maneuver her out of the crisis situation. Her family is truly appreciative of however much you may donate to this incredibly enormous cause -- one-third of all adults reaching 85 will suffer from the disease, but it will afflict many even as young as in their 30s. We are all at risk, and the Association works hard to help whomever reaches out to it regardless of age. There is no better tribute to her life than to try to aid those who face a like fate in the future.